Oh yes! Down to 8 this morning. Pelargoniums hastily retrieved from parapet. The hills were festooned with cloud and all seemed doomed. But after Adam and I had distributed our bounty round the local commerçants things looked brighter. We decided it was worth an outing. Today...the Chapel of St Hilaire above Beaumes. We go there a lot and it is lovely. Clouds lifting slightly as we drove under the Dentelles but as we rounded the bend by Beaumes Coop we observed a rogue cloak of mist clinging to the hillside where the chapel should be. But it was too late, we were committed by then, and in fact by the time we’d got up to the top it was clearer. Well wrapped and booted we strode along the track into the mist.
Men were on the roof doing the final touches and volunteers were shifting rocks and weeding walls.
It’s nearly done now. Or so we were told by a chap with a wheelbarrow!
The best thing is that it was open and we were allowed in.
Very plain with rough wooden pews, a couple of saint statues and a modern wooden crucifix in front of the altar window.
It is so impressive as a piece of total restoration and incredible craftsmanship.
Outside there is still more to do. The wheelbarrowman told me they are building a little hermit shelter in case any hermit wants to spend a few days...or, as he joked, they might rent it as an Airbnb.
Careful...stranger things have happened! Skies were brightening by now and our journey took us behind the Dentelles to the road above Suzette.
The colours are changing at last and the hills are glowing yellows, oranges, and pale lettuce green. Bonfire smoke from the prunings rising up everywhere.
In the garden of one of the lucky houses to be situated with such great views is this magnificent Strawberry Tree (
arbutus unedo). We have a few hereabouts but this was a particularly lovely one. Christmas on a single branch!
Despite the sunshine, Le Barroux was still eerily looming out of a cloud. We walked up the track a way onto St Amand - not summiting today! Adrian had gone ahead and we’d lost sight of him. Two chaps in shorts passed us on their way down with a West Highland White called Walter. I enquired of them if they had seen a man up there. Adam says they were English, talking about Rugby and the M62 but they spoke good French to me!
Anyway they had not seen anyone so we turned back and were rewarded with clear views of Ventoux under a blue sky but with definite signs of some snow. Adrian was back at the car, having gone up a different path...
No lunch today. Adam and I shared the remains of a fougasse aux grattelons from yesterday. We descended the hills on the Malaucène side and had a coffee in our usual bar sitting in warm sunshine.
